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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Every year for Christmas I bake gifts for B's family and our friends. The tradition started 10 years ago when B. and I entered stores after stores, Christmas shopping for his relatives, only to come out empty handed. What do you get the people who have everything? Homemade goodies. And tons of them. Neatly packaged in personalized boxes with pretty ribbons and paper. I go all out. They love it.

I do love to give those boxes filled with cookies, truffles, macarons, etc...but it is easy to let flours, sugar, chocolate, vanilla take over the kitchen. There are times I feel I am inhaling far more buttercream than humanly recommended. I bet some of you can relate! Baking after work also means multitasking with dinner. Clearly not the time to experiment with new or lengthy recipes so I rely on dishes which ingredient list and method I can recite as if it were poetry. Enters this rice dish.

In the past eight years, I have probably made this dish once a month. I know....that's a bit scary to think we ate it or some variation of it close to a hundred times. It's that good. It's so easy and can be adapted to all seasons that once you get the gist of it, it's just a matter of not eating the whole thing in one sitting.

The flavors in this recipe were the main attractions for me. Coconut, squash, onion, thyme. They left me intrigued. It's perfectly suitable for a vegetarian night. We love it simply accompanied by a poached egg on top and a slice of bread. Simple and yet full of flavors. Easy to make and easy to eat.

Right now is the perfect time to use butternut or acorn squash but feel free to substitute yellow squash or eggplant. I sometimes use finely chopped purple or flat leaf kale instead. The black beans can be replaced by any other bean such as pinto or chickpeas. Rosemary can easily replace the thyme. You get it. Use the recipe as a canvas to fit your tastebuds. We love it when the temperatures drop! Hope you will too.

Bring broth (or water) and coconut milk to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice, cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat and keep warm (I just keep mine covered while I prepare the rest of the recipe).

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and lemongrass and sautee 5 minutes or until the onion becomes translucid.

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comments:

Wow. I have to try this!I've made something similar with black beans and coconut milk before but this sounds much, much better. Anything with butternut squash is good. I can see why you ate this once a month!

I know what you mean about buying presents for those that have everything! I also started making and baking, and so far it has been really successful. This year everyone will be receiving an amazing selection of marmalades.

Yes, in the past I have trouble giving gifts with people who have everything too! But it was a blessing in disguise to have them in my circle of friends because they challenged my home-made presents making skills. Ah, this dish is indeed perfect.

I love giving away homemade goodies for the holidays! One year, however, I really made a big mistake: without thinking, I gave a tin of chocolate-covered peanut butter balls to a coworker for Secret Santa. The next day, I realized I had no idea if anyone in his family had peanut allergies! Luckily for all of us, no one did and they were able to enjoy the holiday confections.

This time of year, I tend to eat lots of sandwiches and leftovers from the freezer - my kitchen is taken over by frosting hardening on cookies, and candy that needs to set!

I believe that you just summed up this holiday-baking season perfectly: inhaling more buttercream than recommended. Yes. I am ducking out of sugar overload by doing the same with simple, lovely recipes. I may not get to make this before Christmas but it's going on my short list.

It is wonderful how many ways we can adapt this coconut milk rice. I love adaptive cooking - using seasonal ingredients that we have on hand & not being forced into measurements or precise ingredients. Looks like the perfect meal for meatless Monday - or any time at all :) XO

mmm, love butternut squash! i take a similar rice/squash dish, throw in chicken-apple sausage and my carnivorous boys are happy! (otherwise they look around the table, thinking I forgot the main course :) )

Beautiful post, as always! As one whose kitchen has been entirely overtaken by truffle-making this month, I'm seriously craving savory foods that are comforting yet healthy. I may have to push all of the chocolate aside to try this recipe soon!